Montenegro

After enduring the 6 hour bus ride from Split to Dubrovnik and then the 3.5 hours or so the next day, I arrived in Budva, in Montenegro. Montenegro is a country of only around 650,000 people, 15,000 or so of whom live in Budva. The number of tourists vastly exceeds this and all the beaches are privately owned and absolutely rammed full at this time of year. Here's a section of beach to give you the idea:


Here's a shot of Budva's old town, with a beach on the left and the surrounding mountains in the background:


The hostel here, Hippo Hostel, is the only hostel in Montenegro and is really cool. Being off the beaten track a bit, it attracts a more interesting breed of traveler. Also, it has a convenience store across the road which is open 24/7 and sells cold beer. Perfect. I've spent 6 nights here in total and could easily spend longer, it's great fun even though the town itself isn't that brilliant.

Among the things I did during my first four-night stay here was go on a paddleboat expedition around Sveti Nicola, the island a kilometer or two offshore from Budva. The expedition was led by Dave, who together with his partner Nadja owns and runs Hippo. Here's a shot of our group taking quick refuge from the sun in a cave:


I also went on a daytrip excursion in which myself and 3 others were driven around by an English expat called Marcus. Among the places we visited were the immense Lake Skadar, a creepy and bat-infested old Austro-Hungarian barracks, a farm where we purchased and ate some local cheese, prosciutto and wine, and a village in the bottom of a valley, with no roads in or out, with a population of 4. And some goats. We bought a kilo of goat's cheese from them for 5 euro. At one point in the trip we also got a nice view of Kotor Bay:


I had received word the day I arrived in Montenegro that my planned three day rafting trip was cancelled. After some deliberating about whether I would be able to make it to Bosnia, which everyone I've talked to has been enthusiastic about, I decided it would not be possible and I would just have a couple of days in the north of Montenegro and the rest at Hippo Hostel. On Saturday the 16th I headed north to Zabljak (JAH-bluck, with a soft, French-style "j"), a small town located just near Durmitor National Park and the Tara Canyon. I had to go via the capital Podgorica, which would have to be one of the ugliest cities I have ever seen. I had the fortune to have made friends with Christina, a Canadian girl who headed up to Zabljak a day earlier and booked rafting and a shared room for us. Here she is with Zabljak in the background:


That night we headed out for a meal and ran into a Finnish couple who had been staying at Hippo. We all went out to a local bar, which was mostly full of Serbians. Montenegro is about the only country in the region which doesn't have a mutual animosity with Serbia. They were a loyal member of the former Yugoslavia, which eventually devolved into "Serbia and Montenegro", from which Montenegro became independent following a 55% vote in 2007. Montenegrins voted for independence not out of dislike for Serbia, but because they wanted to fast-track membership of the EU, towards which Serbia has a much more equivocal stance. Later in the night we were accosted by a good-humoured and extremely drunk Serbian man, who tried to impress on us that Serbia was not as imperialist and bloodthirsty as it might appear on CNN. "We HATE Albanians", he explained, "but a month ago I go on holiday to Albania. I do not kill them, they do not kill me. Great success!". I'm paraphrasing but that was the gist of his argument.

The next day Christina and I got up to go rafting on the Tara river.


I was well aware that there'd be no adrenalin thrill ride available. In fact, I was so sure that I wouldn't even get wet that I had my camera clipped to my lifejacket. What I was there for was sightseeing:




The country was nice enough, but I was expecting a canyon and what I got was essentially a valley. It was definitely not unmissable or anything like that and I think Slovenia has much more beautiful places to visit. It was nice enough though and the area surrounding Zabljak was pretty and had a tranquil feel. That night Christina and I climbed a small local hill to watch the sun set.



The next day I parted ways with Christina and headed back to Budva, where I spent last night. I have tonight here as well and plan to actually get out to a bar or club, which I haven't managed to do at all despite 5 nights here, generally because spending all day in the sun is exhausting. Strange as it might sound to you guys back home struggling through winter, I've had enough sun. Other things I have had about enough of include non-English speaking countries and crap, unhealthy food. I'm still having a great time at this hostel, but I'm also looking forward to getting in to Edinburgh tomorrow night.